


Raising Rumplestiltskin

by Feytwilight



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Enchanted Forest, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blind Character-but Magic, Dark, Eventual Humor, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-04-01 00:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3998623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feytwilight/pseuds/Feytwilight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumplestiltskin sat at his wheel, his nimble fingers spinning straw into strands of gold that he would never use.  His eyes stared at nothing and shone into the darkness of the great hall with an ethereal light. He stopped suddenly, catching the strands in his hands, and cocked his head as he felt his name being called upon the wind. The darkness that shared his soul rumbled happily in expectation.  It had been a long time indeed since either of them had tasted a soul even half as desperate as the one that was now whispering his name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Raising Rumplestiltskin

The loud creaking of the spinning wheel echoed within the oppressive silence of the Dark Castle.  Rumplestiltskin sat at his wheel, his nimble fingers spinning straw into strands of gold that he would never use.  His eyes stared at nothing and shone into the darkness of the great hall with an ethereal light. He stopped suddenly, catching the strands in his hands, and cocked his head as he felt his name being called upon the wind. The darkness that shared his soul rumbled happily in expectation.  It had been a long time indeed since either of them had tasted a soul even half as desperate as this one.  Rumplestiltskin vanished and reappeared at the edge of a frozen brook in the middle of a snow-covered forest.  For once, he was speechless with shock.  The scene that greeted him was unlike any he had ever come across. 

The soul that had called to him was lying curled up on its side beside the stream.  The tenuous bright string of magic still connected him to the soul, proving it was still alive, if barely.  It was a small woman who looked more like a broken rag doll than a human being.  Her limbs were bent awkwardly and the front of her dress was soaked with blood, her body covered in cuts and bruises.  Next to her kneeled a small child, a girl, around seven summers old. The child sobbed breathlessly, puffing out great plumes of white smoke in the freezing air as she pushed frantically at the woman’s body.  “Ma…ma, mama…get up…”

Rumplestiltskin snapped out of his temporary stupor and moved over to the pair, his feet crunching across the snow. The girl flinched around at the sound, staring blankly and fearfully into the darkness around her, trying to find the source of the noise.  Her eyes were a startling emerald.  “Nonononono, go…way, leave us…alone!”  The child begged, screaming hysterically.  Rumplestiltskin swiftly knelt beside her.  He put a hand above her head that glowed briefly and the girl gently fell forward onto his leather-clad chest, deeply asleep.  The prone woman blinked up at him slowly and moved her bloodless lips, but couldn’t make a sound.  She grimaced in pain and frustration. Rumplestiltskin examined her through his magic and found her too close to death for him to do anything for her, the price of saving her would be more than anyone would be capable of paying. However he could take her pain away if he was willing to pay that price himself.  In this case, he was.  He passed a white glowing hand over her body.  The woman shuddered a sigh of relief and smiled a ghost of a smile, almost lighting up the night with it.  She would have been a great and rare beauty under different circumstances. 

“You’re still dying, there is nothing I can do for you.”  Rumplestiltskin said with reluctance.  With her pain gone, the woman spoke with ease.

“Thank you.  I figured as much Sir.”  She said her accent thick on the words.

“Then why did you call for me, speak quickly as you haven’t much time.”  He said. The woman moved her hand slightly to brush lovingly against her little girl’s.

“My girl…  She’ll die out here with me, slowly.  I need her safe, I’d pay any price.”  She said, earnestly.  Rumplestiltskin looked aside and then back to the woman.

“Normally I’d love to take you up on that offer but as you’re dying, what price could you possibly hope to pay me with?” He asked.  She looked up at him, studying his strange features.

“Are you a monster like they say Sir, or a man? I can’t tell the difference myself, it was men what did this to us after all…  But you don’t seem half as monstrous as they, nor even less than half...” She whispered softly.  “Your price, yes, I do have this Sir, I can’t…my necklace,” The woman struggled to move her arms to take off a chain around her neck but couldn’t quite reach that far; she looked up at him hopefully.  Rumplestiltskin stretched forward and lightly undid the clasp, taking the silver chain, “and my daughter, I’d offer her to you as a servant; she could be a help to you Sir. She’s a clever child.” The woman finished, her face becoming even paler.  Rumplestiltskin glanced down at the blood-spattered girl nestled against his chest, breathing peacefully, and then looked back at her mother.

“Most would choose death for their child rather than leave them in my hands.”  He said. The woman smiled again, sadly.

“Forgive my boldness Sir, but I’m not most, and where there is life, there is hope.  Now do we have a deal?”  She asked, the last of her strength obviously running out.  Rumplestiltskin considered.  He didn’t want to make this deal.  His darkness was already growling ominously.  And he…he may not have wanted to leave the girl out here with her dead mama, but he didn’t want her to be his responsibility either.  But in the end, for him, there really wasn’t much of a choice. 

“Done.”  Rumplestiltskin said as he materialized a contract and quill out of his own personal pocket dimension.  He held her frail hand steady as she signed her mark.  Her last duty to her child finished, the woman closed her eyes, finally at peace.  She died before her hand finished falling back to the ground.  Using magic, he buried her there at the edge of the stream, in the middle of the forest.  Then with the little girl safely cradled in his arms he traveled back to the Dark Castle in a puff of maroon smoke.


End file.
